Olivia Hinojosa

Mr. Munoz
English DC 5th
9-23-14
Gods Role in the Inferno
Gods role in the inferno, begins in paradise. The place where God resides, and has his throne.
God is in charge of all the saints, the people who live in heaven. Dante, being Christian, believes
that God created all of eternity, and the universe. All the souls who are not yet in heaven need
God and faith to enter into paradise with him. Dante himself admits in Canto I- 10 that heaven
with God is the "true path". In Dantes Inferno, Dante travels through the 9 circles of Hell , in
hope of redemption. In Limbo, the first circle of hell in Dante's Inferno, live the souls who lived
good, holy lives on earth, but lived before Christ. Because Christ is such an important figure to
Dante, his resurrection is pivotal, and the only souls who lived in his way can be saved. Dante is
sent through hell with his mentor Virgil, an old deceased classical poet. Beatrice, Dante's one
true love willed this for Dante, and because she is in heaven with God, she has the privilege to
intervene. Beatrice even states in that because God grants it, misery cannot touch her, and has no
power over her (II. 91-3). Dantes passage is willed by God and this statement is used throughout
a lot of the epic. In Canto III - 94, Canto V - 22, and Canto XXI , the evil souls in hell make way
for Dante and Virgil to pass only because God has willed it. At the gate of Dis however, Dante
and Virgil come across a gate that will not be opened for them (VIII.). Virgil calls upon the
heavens and a messenger from paradise shows up. He shows up not even bothered by the
tormented souls, and he opens the gate without any resistance (IX.76-104). This is a great
example of how God rules over all the universe.
Not only does God rule greatly in heaven, he rules over hell too. One would typically think that
Satan is in charge of hell, but that is not the case in Dante's Inferno. In Canto III, it is stated that
Satan's creator was in fact, God. At the gate of hell, it is written that God created Satan and he
chose not to be with God. Satan is stuck at the bottom of the ninth circle of hell, waving his
wings, causing himself to become more stuck in the ice that surrounds him. As Dante gets closer
to the bottom of hell, where Satan is, there is a numerous amount of the number three. The
number three represents the Holy Trinity of God. Even in Hell, they need to try and put down the
power of God, because they know he rules over them. God proves to be all powerful in Hell as
well as heaven. In the ante-hell, there is a white banner waving back and forth, leading a group
of indecisive sinners chasing it. This symbolizes these sinners chasing what they did not choose
on earth, that being God. These sinners did not choose between God or Satan and have to spend
eternity chasing after their lost hope. Dante explains these souls as hopeful to reach the blessed
people, although they are content in the fire (I. 118-121). Hell is composed of the souls that
rejected God on earth, and now they are subject to suffering for eternity. In the entrance to Hell

there is a river called Acheron that transports the souls into Hell. At the entrance of the river,
Dante describes the souls as "eager for the river crossing because celestial justice spurs them on "
(III.124-5). The souls desire hell now, because God's justice pushes them to it. One of the souls
in the Lustful circle of hell talks to Dante and says that he should pray to the ruler of the universe
for peace (V. 91-3). Even the souls in Hell believe in praying to the ruler of the universe, God. In
the third circle in hell, the gluttonous, the souls explain to Dante that when Jesus comes again,
they will see one mans sorry tomb (VI. 94-9). Even the souls in Hell look forward to the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Final Judgement. When jesus was resurrected he came down
to Hell and took up some souls from Limbo to go to his kingdom with him. When the final
judgement, the souls in the first couple circles of hell will not gain true perfection, but will be "
more perfect than now" (VI.109-111). When Jesus died, the whole earth shook and caused a lot
of rocks to tumble down in hell and cause destruction. This is shown in Canto XII with the souls
that are violent against their neighbors. In the eighth circle of hell, made of ten pouches, lives the
souls who sold indulgences for money. These souls are tortured by horned demons whipping
them. These souls suffer great consequences because they did disgrace to the Church, Gods
bride. This is a great injustice to God and must be dealt with a terrible punishment. This is shown
again in with the people who caused schisms to the Church, they are forced around in a circle, to
be cut in half over and over again for eternity (XXVIII.). In the third pouch of the eighth circle of
Hell, Simonists who sold church offices, are stuck head down into holes with their feet burning
in flames. The high priest, Caiaphas, who asked for Jesus' crucifixion, is tormented in the fifth
pouch of the eighth circle of Hell (XXIII.121-7). He is crucified on the ground, where all the
sinners step on him as they walk by. The diviners, astrologers, and fortune tellers are tormented
in the fourth pouch of the Eighth circle of Hell (XX.4-24). They have to walk with their heads on
backwards, and their tears blinding their eyes. For trying to take on the role of God and predict
the future, they are unable to see anything for the rest of eternity. This theme continues
throughout most of the circles of Hell. All the way down into the ninth circle of Hell where
Lucifer is, Judas is in the mouth of Satan. Judas is in the mouth of Satan because he committed
the ultimate betrayal to God. In the fifth pouch of the eighth circle of Hell, Dante describes a
black tarry pit made as "not by fire but by the art of God" (XXI.16). From this statement, it can
be inferred that God created and designed Hell, reinforcing that statement that God rules over
Hell.
As well as ruling Heaven and Hell, God controls Dante himself as well. God is all powerful, and
definitely has power over Dante. Dante, being christian believes in the importance of God and
how he rules over all. In the Inferno, there are many instances where God "praises" Dante. In this
epic, written by Dante, Dante expresses how he feels that he is pleasing God, and that is why he
is able to go through hell. In his beloved classical poets stories such as Virgil's Aeneid, a man
makes a journey through hell. Dante is comparing himself with the classical poets saying he was
"sixth among such intellects" (IV.100-3). Since Dante is one of the great poets, he believes that
God has granted him to walk through Hell, just like in Virgil's epic. As it is said throughout most
of the epic, God will's Dante's passage through Hell. Dante's goal in the Inferno is to finally

come face to face with God. He seeks union and redemption with God and his true love in
heaven, Beatrice.